Monday, 26 April 2010

Château Rocher-Sévingé

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné was born in 1626, orphaned at the age of 7, married at 18 and widowed at 25. None the less she enjoyed a happy life on the periphery of the court of Louis XIV, and was famous for being able to dish the dirt on all her social circle, but with enough wit and humour than no-one could really take offense.

She is remembered for the large collection of letters she wrote to her daughter, that reflect her life and times. She lived much of her life at the château des Rochers-Sévigné, and we went to visit it one perfect day last weekend.

The chateau itself is imposing but not especially large. I like the roof line. The light-coloured chapel was re-rendered for maintenance a couple of years ago and age has not yet dulled the bright yellow.

The old stable building houses a restaurant for the golf course that has been built in the grounds. What we know as formal French gardens were known at the time as gardens "à l'anglais", so they've gone full circle. They were designed to be viewed from above, from the high bedroom windows of the castle, which explains why they can be disappointing from ground level.

2 comments:

My dad used to spend a lot of time each year in France. He used to translate air traffic control training manuals from French to English (the language of the airways). He used to manage to slot a lot of pleasure trips into his visits too and I remember lots of photos like yours here!

Me

By a beautiful river valley in North-West France. This blog is about the day-to-day events in running a group gîte in Mayenne. There's a lot of gardening, maintenance, but, I hope, a lot of fun too.
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